Draw operated pants hanger



Sept. 8, 1970 H. w. JOHNSON 3,527,357

DRAW OPERATED PANTS HANGER Filed Sept. 27, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR. #5284587 4/ w/w/urax/ BY Q flfizmuew Sept. 8, 1970 H. w. JOHNSON DRAW OPERATED PANTS HANGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 27, 1967 INVENTOR. #5 8519) a dz/wwx/ United States Patent 3,527,357 DRAW OPERATED PANTS HANGER Herbert W. Johnson, 4060 Harbor Point Drive, Muskegon, Mich. 49441 Filed Sept. 27, 1967, Ser. No. 671,013 Int. Cl. A47j 51/14 U.S. Cl. 211-113 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND This invention relates to pants hanger assemblies, and more particularly to push-pull, draw operated pants hanger assemblies.

Because pants hangers that are removable from their support rod are so frequently stolen when used in public places such as motels and hotels, non-removable types have been devised. However, known pants hangers that are not removable from their support are normally difficult and inconvenient to use.

Moreover, for either the removable or non-removable type hangers, substantial extra lateral space along the support rod is required to allow a practical amount of access to the support.

Where a large number of pairs of pants are hung together, as in a clothing store, conventional hangers of both types have the distinct disadvantage of preventing convenient viewing of selective pairs unless substantial empty space is left on the support bar and groups of pairs are slid along it each time a person Wishes to look at a particular pair.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide a novel pants hanger assembly of the non-removable type that allows convenient usage, easy access for viewing, and maximum space efiiciency.

Another object of this invention is to provide pants hanger assemblies capable of hanging pairs of pants closely adjacent each other in a compact space, in complete orderly fashion, free from the tendency of the hangers to intertangle.

Another object is to provide a push-pull or draw operated battery of pants hangers that receive each pair of pants when extended, and that clamp each pair of pants in retained condition-as the pants are pushed back into a compact storage position, all in a convenient manner. Further, each pair may be conveniently pulled to viewing position short of a fully extended releasing position, Without moving any of the other closely adjacent pairs.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following description. The novel assembly combines a fixed elongated, front-to-rear track with a movable pants hanger carriage shiftable between the front and rear ends of the tracks, each hanger being cammed to gripping condition when shifted to the rear of the track, retaining its gripping condition when shifted partly forwardly for viewing, and being biased to releas- Patented Sept. 8, 1970 ing or receiving position when fully extended to the front of the track.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of two of the novel pants hanger units in an assembly, with the guide track of one being partially broken away to illustrate the mechanism of the hanger and its track immediately therebehind;

FIG. 2 is a front end view of the apparatus in FIG. 1, shown with the front carriage stop element removed;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of one of the fixed tracks of the apparatus in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of one of the hanger element mounting supports for the apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of the supports in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a slightly modified pants hanger assembly of the invention, shown with the track of one of the sub-assemblies broken away to illustrate the sub-assembly immediately therebehind; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the apparatus in FIG. 6, taken on plane VII-VII of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the first embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, the complete pants hanger assembly 10 there shown includes a mounting bracket 12 securable to an overhead ceiling or other structural element 14, and suspending therefrom a plurality of independently mounted pants hanger sub-assemblies 16, 16', etc., only two of which are illustrated for purposes of convenience.

Sub-assembly 16 includes an elongated front-to-rear track 18 fixed to mount 12 and having a movable pants hanger carriage 20 that is shiftable between the rear end 18a of the track and the front end of the track, while the carriage 20 of sub-assembly 16' is shiftable between the rear end of its track 18' and the front end 18']; of its track. Movement of either carriage to the rear of its track may be limited by a wall panel 22 or alternatively by a fixed stop plate mounted to the track.

Track 18 has a pair of elongated parallel grooves along its opposite sides to receive rollers 24 rotatably secured to carriage 20 at the upwardly extending parallel legs of the U-shaped carriage bracket 21. Secured at spaced interval to this bracket is a pair of blocks 30 and 32 which serve to pivotally support the rod-like, generally Z-shaped elements 34 and a generally V-shaped spring member 36. Elements 34 each have a vertically extending upper end which has a cam follower roller 36 mounted thereto, these elements 34 being generally astraddle of the track so that the two rollers 36 are on opposite side walls of the track as illustrated in FIG. 2. The central portions of element 34 are horizontal, extending in the direction of the track, and generally along side it and beneath it, to be pivotally supported in journal members 30 and 32 for pivoting of the lower ends toward and away from each other as controlled by cam following rollers 36. Secured to the vertically depending lower ends of element 34 is a pair of pants gripper members 38. These pants grippers are biased apart by spring 36 which engages the inside faces of a pair of plates 38a attached to grippers 38.

Adjacent the front end of each of tracks 18 and 18' is a pair of non-parallel recesses 40 and 40 respectively, which are tapered (as illustrated in FIG. 3) gradually outwardly toward the rear end of the track and abruptly outwardly toward the front end 18b of the track to provide camming surfaces for cam followers 36. The movement of each of the carriages to the front end of the track is limited by a special stop plate 44 or the equivalent. The push-pull movement may 'be caused by gripping the downwardly curled handle element 20c on carriage 20, and 20c on carriage 18'.

Actually, the sub-assemblies are preferably in large numbers in ordinary usage, mounted laterally alongside each other, extending toward the front of the closet or storage space, with the carriages being movable forwardly and rearwardly. To hang a pair of pants P on the particular sub-assembly, e.g. 16, handle 20c is grasped and the carriage is pulled forwardly to the front end. As cam follower rollers 36 move along the side walls of track 18 and drop into recesses 40 and 40', the biasing springs 36 force the lower ends of rods 34 and the pants hanger elements apart to the spread position illustrated by subassembly 16 in FIG. 2. The cuffs of the pair of pants P are then placed between gripper elements, e.g. 38, and the unit is pushed to the rear of the track. As the cam follower rollers, e.g. 36', move over the tapered surface of the camming recesses or slots, the rollers are forced outwardly to thereby pivot elements 34 and shift grippers 38 toward each other against the bias of spring 36, squeezing the pair of pants into a stored retained position (illustrated by sub-assembly 16 in FIG. 2). When it is desired to again retrieve the pair of pants, this carriage is moved forwardly to the front end of the track, causing the cam followers to move into the camming slots, allowing the spring to bias the grippers apart and thereby dropping the pants. If it is desired to view the pair of pants, but not necessarily remove them, the carriage is pulled part way out to a intermediate track position where the cam followers have not dropped into their recesses. Hence, the parts are forwardly of adjacent pants but have not been released.

It will be readily visualized that the entire lateral space of a storage area can be efliciently employed, that pants can be viewed, removed, and reinserted conveniently, and that all is orderly.

In FIGS. 6 and 7 is illustrated a second similar embodiment of the apparatus. Here again, sub-assemblies 116 and 116 include a fixed track for each, specifically 118 and 118', each having camming slots, 140 and 140' respectively adjacent the front end of the fixed track for the cam followers 136 and 136"to follow on oppo site sides of each track. These cam followers are mounted to plate type support members 234 and 234' which are pivotally mounted on pins 235 and 235' to L-shaped brackets 237 and 237' beneath the carriages 120 and 120'. The carriages may be moved along the track on their respective rollers 124 and 124' by pulling on the curled tabs or handles 120a and 120c. The pants gripper elements 138 and 138 are biased toward each other on the lower ends of elements 234 and 234', by torsion springs 236. and 236' which are wrapped around pins 235 and 235 respectively. These springs bias the gripper elements apart to the position illustrated at assembly 116' in FIG. 7, so that, when the carriage is in its front end position as illustrated at the right end of FIG. 6, the grippers will be separated for receiving or releasing a pair of pants P. When a unit it utilized for storing a pair of pants, the cuffs are positioned between the grip pers, and the carriage is shifted to the rear as with the first embodiment, causing the cam follower members to ride up over the cam surfaces out of recesses 140, which biases or forces the gripper elements into engagement with a pair of pants as illustrated by the subassembly 116 on the left side of FIG. 7.

It is conceivable that certain obvious details of construction may be made in these embodiments without departing from the concept of the invention, and hence the invention is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims and the reasonably equivalent structures to those defined therein.

I claim:

1. A pants hanger assembly, comprising: track means includin at least one fixed track and means to mount said track in a storage space; each track having a rear end portion for pants storage and a front end portion for pants insertion or removal; a pants hanger carriage retained on each track and movable between said rear end portion and said front end portion, including pants gripping means shiftable between a pants gripping condition and a pants receiving or releasing condition; each said track having camming portions, and each said carriage having cooperative cam follower portions, said carn follower portions being operably associated with said pants gripping means to shift them between said conditions, and said camming portions being arranged to shift said pants gripping means, through said cam follower portions, to pants receiving or releasing position at said track front end portion and to pants grip ping condition at said track rear end portion.

2. The pants hanger assembly in claim 1 wherein each said carriage has rollers received by said track.

3. The pants hanger assembly in claim 1 wherein: said pants gripping means comprises a pair of depending elements pivotally shiftable between said conditions; and said carriage includes biasing springs engaging said elements in a manner biasing them towards said pants releasing or receiving condition.

4. The pants hanger assembly in claim 1 wherein said track includes an intermediate pants retaining and viewing portion between said front and rear end portions.

5. A pants hanger assembly comprising: a plurality of elongated tracks spaced side by side, and a plurality of respective pants supporting carriages independently and movably supported on said tracks; each track having a rear portion for pants storage, an intermediate portion for pants viewing, and a front portion for hanging or removing pants; said carriages being selectively movable between said portions, for selective storage, viewing, and hanging or removing of pants, each of said carriages including pants gripping means having pants retention and pants releasing or receiving conditions, and cooperative actuation means between said tracks and each carriage to shift said gripping means to pants retention condition in said rear and intermediate track portions, and to pants releasing or receiving condition at said front track portion.

6. The pants hanger assembly in claim 5 including cooperative cam and cam follower means between said tracks and each gripping means to automatically shift said gripping means to their respective conditions at said respective track portions.

7. The pants hanger assembly in claim 6, wherein said cam means includes portions of said tracks which are non-parallel, and said cam follower means includes a roller on one end of each of said gripping means for engagement with said non-parallel portions.

8. The pants hanger assembly in claim 7, further including a plurality of parallel grooves spaced from said non-parallel portions, said parallel grooves supporting said carriages.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 850,363 4/1907 Frankel 211116 XR 1,424,333 8/1922 Batts 312-321 XR 1,742,074 12/ 1929 Hires l98-179 2,929,514 3/1960 Stewart 211-123 2,975,949 3/1961 Lutsky 2239'1 960,549 6/1910 Hoffman 21194 X FOREIGN PATENTS 314,877 8/ 1956 Switzerland.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

